National Federation of the Blind Urges Obama Administration to Issue ADA Internet Regulations

Orlando, Florida (July 7, 2014):The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s leading advocate for equal access to the Internet for blind people, today announced that it has unanimously adopted a resolution at its national convention urging the Obama administration to issue regulations requiring websites that are public accommodations to be accessible to the blind. On July 5, approximately twenty-five hundred NFB members assembled in convention at the Rosen Centre Hotel voted unanimously to adopt the resolution. Blind people access the internet on computers or mobile devices equipped with software that can convert the content of websites and applications into computerized speech or into Braille that can be displayed on a connected device. Websites that are not designed to be accessible, however, cannot be presented to blind users by this technology.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The goal of the National Federation of the Blind is the complete integration of blind people into society on a basis of equality. Since public accommodations, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), increasingly conduct business with the public over the internet, it is imperative that their websites be accessible to the blind. Without equal access, blind people cannot participate in employment, education, or commerce. Technology holds the promise that blind people will be able to live the lives we want to a degree never before possible, but only if internet technology is properly designed. If it is not, blind people will be isolated and excluded from society. That is why we demand that the Obama administration issue the long-delayed ADA regulations applying to the Internet the legal principle of equal access for all.”

###

About the National Federation of the Blind

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.